Marine Corps unit taps into free mail service

A Marine Corps unit stationed in Kuwait is testing a free Internet mail service this month.

Family members and friends of troops stationed in Kuwait with the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force'Maritime Prepositioning Force can exchange free e-letters with their loved ones.

Through Sept. 30, users can send the letters using a service from SuperLetter.com Inc. of New Smyrna Beach, Fla.

If the test goes well, the Corps will consider keeping the service and expanding it to all deployed Marines, said Maj. Craig E. Stephens at Camp Lejeune, N.C., who helped spearhead the initiative.

All letters are free until the end of next month. If the service decides to make the e-letters available Corps-wide, it will then determine whether or not to charge users, Stephens said. He said the fee would likely be no more than 20 cents a letter.

Users have to register at www.SuperLetter.com. Once they are logged in, they can type a letter by entering the recipient's name and postal address. After a letter is keyed in on the Web site, it is routed to a terminal in Kuwait, printed out and sent via standard postal delivery.

Marine Corps officials said British forces have been using SuperLetter for families to communicate with troops in Iraq and have had positive results. The British forces have their own Web page on the SuperLetter site.